John Bellenden's Livy and Les Decades of Pierre Bersuire: The French in Bellenden's Scots

When producing a Scots translation of Livy's History of Rome in 1533, John Bellenden harnessed Les Decades, the Middle French translation of Livy prepared by Pierre Bersuire in 1358. The French intermediary offered Bellenden not only a rich store of lexical possibilities when grappling with Livy's Latin, as has been partly recognized before, but also a way of structuring and presenting his translation. Inspired by the glosses with which Bersuire furnished Les Decades, Bellenden prepared his own commentary, explaining similar items of political, cultural, and religious interest. Following Bersuire's example, Bellenden's commentary encouraged the reader to approach Livy's History alongside a series of comparative texts, especially Ovid's Fasti and the Memorabilia of Valerius Maximus. Above all, Bellenden took from Bersuire the urge to understand antiquity, as far as was possible, on its own terms

Comparative bio-accessibility, bioavailability and bioequivalence of quercetin, apigenin, glucoraphanin and carotenoids from freeze-dried vegetables incorporated into a baked snack versus minimally processed vegetables:Evidence from in vitro models and a human bioavailability study

The aim was to incorporate vegetables containing the phytochemicals quercetin, apigenin, glucoraphanin and carotenoids into a processed potato-based snack and assess their bioaccessibility and bioavailability. Three different processing routes were tested for incorporation and retention of phytochemicals in snacks using individually quick frozen or freeze-dried vegetables. No significant differences in the uptake or transport of quercetin or apigenin between a vegetable mix or snacks were observed using the CaCo-2 transwell model. Simulated in vitro digestions predicted a substantial release of quercetin and apigenin, some release of glucoraphanin but none for carotenes from either the snack or equivalent steamed vegetables. In humans, there were no significant differences in the bioavailability of quercetin, apigenin or glucoraphanin from the snack or equivalent steamed vegetables. We have shown that significant quantities of freeze-dried vegetables can be incorporated into snacks with good retention of phytochemicals and with similar bioavailability to equivalent steamed vegetables

Henry Savile's Tacitus in Italy

This article examines the Italian afterlife of Henry Savile's Tacitus. Approximately four years before his execution, Henry Cuffe (1562/3–1601), classical scholar and secretary to the Earl of Essex, produced a series of translations into Italian and Latin of Savile's commentary on Tacitus. Cuffe completed these at Padua in the company of Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601), owner of one of the largest private libraries of the Renaissance. Pinelli subsequently produced a discourse responding to Savile's commentary, challenging Savile's reading of the Agricola. These works, preserved at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, reveal a fascinating exchange of ideas across languages and across cultures in the final years of the Cinquecento

English and Scottish Scholars at the Library of Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1565–1601)

Throughout the second half of the sixteenth century, the scholar and collector Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601) welcomed poets, mathematicians, antiquarians, and astronomers from every corner of Europe to his vast private library in Padua. These scholars left their mark on Pinelli’s collection, annotating his manuscripts, trading texts, and even making contributions of their very own to his library. This article considers the English and Scottish scholars who visited Pinelli’s collection and the works they gifted to Pinelli. These manuscripts, now preserved at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, include an impressive breadth of material, ranging from treatises on England’s schism with Rome to verse commemorating the deaths of fellow scholar–poets. Pinelli, it emerges, was not only hosting scholars from England and Scotland, but also gathering reports, discourses, and what was in many cases highly sensitive intelligence on both nations. These manuscripts thus bear witness to the importance of the Italian private library to the transmission of both ideas and physical texts across the Continent, shining new light on a literary culture that was able to cross and transcend national boundaries.Durant la seconde moitié du seizième siècle, l’érudit et collectionneur Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601) a mis sa vaste bibliothèque privée padouane à la disposition de poètes, de mathématiciens, d’antiquaires et d’astronomes originaires de toute l’Europe. Ces érudits ont laissé leur marque sur la collection de Pinelli en annotant ses manuscrits, en échangeant des textes et en ajoutant même leurs propres contributions à cette bibliothèque. Cet article considère les érudits anglais et écossais qui ont visité la collection de Pinelli, ainsi que les ouvrages qu’ils lui ont offerts. Ces manuscrits, qui sont présentement conservés à la Biblioteca Ambrosiana à Milan, forment un ensemble impressionnant de matériaux, allant des traités portant sur le schisme de l’Angleterre vis-à-vis de Rome, à des vers commémorant la mort d’autres intellectuels et poètes. Pinelli, semble-t-il, ne se contentait pas d’héberger des érudits d’Angleterre et d’Écosse, mais réunissait également des rapports, des discours et ce qui s’avère être dans plusieurs cas des renseignements hautement confidentiels sur ces deux nations. Ces manuscrits témoignent ainsi de l’importance de cette bibliothèque privée italienne dans la transmission à la fois des idées et des textes matériaux à travers le continent européen, en jetant un nouvel éclairage sur une culture littéraire qui a su traverser et transcender les frontières nationales

'An ocean untouched and untried': translating Livy in the sixteenth century

This is a study of the translation and reception of the Roman historian Livy in the sixteenth century in the British Isles. The thesis examines five major translations of Livy's history of Rome, the Ab Urbe Condita, into the English and Scottish vernaculars. The texts considered here span from the earliest extant translation of around 1533 to the first, full-scale translation published in 1600. By taking a broad view across the century, the thesis uncovers the multiple and versatile uses to which Livy was being put and maps out the major trends surrounding his reception. The first chapter examines Livy's initial reception into print in Europe, outlining the attempts of his earliest editors to impose a critical order onto his enormous work. The subsequent chapters consider the respective translations undertaken by John Bellenden, Anthony Cope, William Thomas, William Painter, and Philemon Holland. Each translation is treated as a case study and compared in detail with the Latin original, thereby revealing the changes Livy's history experienced through the process of translation. By locating these translations in the cultural and political contexts from which they emerged, this study reveals how Livy was exploited in some of the most pressing debates of the period, from arguments over women's apparel to questions of faith. The thesis also considers how these translations responded to the most recent developments in European scholarship on the Ab Urbe Condita and on classical history more generally. Livy's contribution to the development of Scottish historiography is also considered, both as a stylistic model and as a rich source of narrative material. Ultimately this thesis demonstrates that Livy played a fundamental though hitherto underexplored role in the development of vernacular literature and historiography in the British Isles. </p

'An ocean untouched and untried': translating Livy in the sixteenth century

This is a study of the translation and reception of the Roman historian Livy in the sixteenth century in the British Isles. The thesis examines five major translations of Livy's history of Rome, the Ab Urbe Condita, into the English and Scottish vernaculars. The texts considered here span from the earliest extant translation of around 1533 to the first, full-scale translation published in 1600. By taking a broad view across the century, the thesis uncovers the multiple and versatile uses to which Livy was being put and maps out the major trends surrounding his reception. The first chapter examines Livy's initial reception into print in Europe, outlining the attempts of his earliest editors to impose a critical order onto his enormous work. The subsequent chapters consider the respective translations undertaken by John Bellenden, Anthony Cope, William Thomas, William Painter, and Philemon Holland. Each translation is treated as a case study and compared in detail with the Latin original, thereby revealing the changes Livy's history experienced through the process of translation. By locating these translations in the cultural and political contexts from which they emerged, this study reveals how Livy was exploited in some of the most pressing debates of the period, from arguments over women's apparel to questions of faith. The thesis also considers how these translations responded to the most recent developments in European scholarship on the Ab Urbe Condita and on classical history more generally. Livy's contribution to the development of Scottish historiography is also considered, both as a stylistic model and as a rich source of narrative material. Ultimately this thesis demonstrates that Livy played a fundamental though hitherto underexplored role in the development of vernacular literature and historiography in the British Isles. </p

English and Scottish Scholars at the Library of Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1565–1601)

Throughout the second half of the sixteenth century, the scholar and collector Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601) welcomed poets, mathematicians, antiquarians, and astronomers from every corner of Europe to his vast private library in Padua. These scholars left their mark on Pinelli’s collection, annotating his manuscripts, trading texts, and even making contributions of their very own to his library. This article considers the English and Scottish scholars who visited Pinelli’s collection and the works they gifted to Pinelli. These manuscripts, now preserved at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, include an impressive breadth of material, ranging from treatises on England’s schism with Rome to verse commemorating the deaths of fellow scholar–poets. Pinelli, it emerges, was not only hosting scholars from England and Scotland, but also gathering reports, discourses, and what was in many cases highly sensitive intelligence on both nations. These manuscripts thus bear witness to the importance of the Italian private library to the transmission of both ideas and physical texts across the Continent, shining new light on a literary culture that was able to cross and transcend national boundaries.Durant la seconde moitié du seizième siècle, l’érudit et collectionneur Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601) a mis sa vaste bibliothèque privée padouane à la disposition de poètes, de mathématiciens, d’antiquaires et d’astronomes originaires de toute l’Europe. Ces érudits ont laissé leur marque sur la collection de Pinelli en annotant ses manuscrits, en échangeant des textes et en ajoutant même leurs propres contributions à cette bibliothèque. Cet article considère les érudits anglais et écossais qui ont visité la collection de Pinelli, ainsi que les ouvrages qu’ils lui ont offerts. Ces manuscrits, qui sont présentement conservés à la Biblioteca Ambrosiana à Milan, forment un ensemble impressionnant de matériaux, allant des traités portant sur le schisme de l’Angleterre vis-à-vis de Rome, à des vers commémorant la mort d’autres intellectuels et poètes. Pinelli, semble-t-il, ne se contentait pas d’héberger des érudits d’Angleterre et d’Écosse, mais réunissait également des rapports, des discours et ce qui s’avère être dans plusieurs cas des renseignements hautement confidentiels sur ces deux nations. Ces manuscrits témoignent ainsi de l’importance de cette bibliothèque privée italienne dans la transmission à la fois des idées et des textes matériaux à travers le continent européen, en jetant un nouvel éclairage sur une culture littéraire qui a su traverser et transcender les frontières nationales

Folic acid handling by the human gut: implications for food fortification and supplementation

Background: Current thinking, which is based mainly on rodent studies, is that physiologic doses of folic acid (pterylmonoglutamic acid), such as dietary vitamin folates, are biotransformed in the intestinal mucosa and transferred to the portal vein as the natural circulating plasma folate, 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-MTHF) before entering the liver and the wider systemic blood supply. Objective: We tested the assumption that, in humans, folic acid is biotransformed (reduced and methylated) to 5-MTHF in the intestinal mucosa. Design: We conducted a crossover study in which we sampled portal and peripheral veins for labeled folate concentrations after oral ingestion with physiologic doses of stable-isotope–labeled folic acid or the reduced folate 5-formyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-FormylTHF) in 6 subjects with a transjugular intrahepatic porto systemic shunt (TIPSS) in situ. The TIPSS allowed blood samples to be taken from the portal vein. Results: Fifteen minutes after a dose of folic acid, 80 ± 12% of labeled folate in the hepatic portal vein was unmodified folic acid. In contrast, after a dose of labeled 5-FormylTHF, only 4 ± 18% of labeled folate in the portal vein was unmodified 5-FormylTHF, and the rest had been converted to 5-MTHF after 15 min (postdose). Conclusions: The human gut appears to have a very efficient capacity to convert reduced dietary folates to 5-MTHF but limited ability to reduce folic acid. Therefore, large amounts of unmodified folic acid in the portal vein are probably attributable to an extremely limited mucosal cell dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) capacity that is necessary to produce tetrahydrofolic acid before sequential methylation to 5-MTHF. This process would suggest that humans are reliant on the liver for folic acid reduction even though it has a low and highly variable DHFR activity. Therefore, chronic liver exposure to folic acid in humans may induce saturation, which would possibly explain reports of systemic circulation of unmetabolized folic acid. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02135393